Track



Oct. 8, 1929 s. WILDT 1,731,155

TRACK Filed Sept. 22, 1928 fig! i EH5 i Wfi ///W////// V/%\ 6 41EPatented Oct. 8, 1929 Urrsn STATES STEFFEN WILDT, OF HORSENS,'DENMARKTRACK- Application filed September 22, 1928, Serial No. 307,665, and inDenmark Mayl29, 1928.

In ordinary railway track constructions the vulnerable points are therail joints,i. e. the points where the fish-plates are securedto therails. Besides being expensive in themselves the rail oints increase thecost of maintenance, shorten the life of the track, increase thenecessary tractive power and produce destructive effects upon therolling stock. It has been suggested to avoid the use of rail jointsentirely by welding the rail ends, and no doubt enormous amounts ofmoney would be saved if this arrangement could once be adopted. That ithas not yet been adopted is due to the fact that the latent rigidity ofthe track has not been great enough to prevent warpin of the track inconsequence of the stresses of the rails owing to increase ofte1nperature.

In a track construction according to the present invention the desiredlatent rigidity is obtained by arranging lengthwise of the track, on thelower side of the sleepers and in fixed connection therewith, one ormore bodies having vertical surfaces, such as angle iron, rails or thelike. The saidbodies, being sunk into the ballast compressed by tampingof the sleepers, will serve the purpose of increasing to a high degreethe rigidity of the track.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figs. 1 and 2 are vertical sections through two different trackconstructions of the above mentioned kind.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line IH-III in Fig. 1, and

Figs. 4.- and 5 show details.

Referring now to the drawing, 1 is the ballast and 2 the sleepers onwhich the rails 3 are fixed. In the embodiment of the invention shown inFig. 1, a stiffening or strengthening body 4; sunk into the ballastlengthwise of the track is secured to the lower side of the sleepersbetween the rails 3, the said body preferably consisting of a discardedrail or piece of rail.

The sleepers being often or" varying thickness, it is preferred torestrict the length of the rails 1 so that they will extend under onlytwo juxtaposed sleepers, as shown in Fig. 3. The rails 4 need not beplaced in alignment;

they may as well be laterally displaced in relation to one another.

The rails 4 are secured to the sleepers Q in any suitable way, forinstance, as shown in Figs. 4: and 5, by pairs of hookshaped links 5embracing the bases of the rails and having ears for connecting the saidlinks to eye bolts 6 inserted through openings in vplates 7 on the uppersurface otthe sleeper, which eye bolts can be screwed tight by means ofnuts 8. One of the hookshaped links 5 of the pair may, however, be inone piece with the eye bolt and have an ear for engagement with theother link of the pair. The plates 2, as represented, project at theirends beyond the opposite side edges of the sleepers.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 2, two rails 41- areused and applied outside the track rails 3. As will appear from acomparison of Fig. 1 with Fig. 2, the length of the sleepers can berestricted by this arrangement and a good deal of expensive ballast canbe saved, and it is also a matter of advantage that the rails 4 can beapplied below the track without stopping the traflic.

I 'While' tracks of the heretofore-used construction, in order to belaterally displaced,

must merely push away the ballast at the ends of thesleepers 2, a trackaccording to Fig. 1 must drag the rail pieces 4- through the ballast 1which, by tamping of the sleepers, has been very much compressed.

It can be demonstrated that the lateral rigidity of the sectionaccording to Fig. 1 has from 3 to 4 times, and that of the sectionaccording to F ig. 2 has 4 times, the rigidity of a track of ordinaryconstruction.

This increase in lateral rigidity will suffice to resist the tendency ofwarping arising from a heating of the track to the extent of 50 or of5060 (1, respectively, from the stressless condition of the rails.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a track for ballasted road beds, the combination, with a pair ofspaced, parallel track rails, and a sleeper supported on the ballasttransversely of said rails and directly across the upper surface ofwhich the rails pass; of a strengthening body embedded in the ballastbelow and parallel with said rails,

with the lower surface of the sleeper resting thereon; a plate supporteddirectly on the said upper surface of the sleeper immediately above thestrengthening body and projecting at its ends beyond the opposite sidefaces thereof; and a connectionbetween each end of said plate and thestrengthening body to prevent displacement of the latter, suchconnection comprising a depending eye bolt attached to the plate end,and hook-shaped link means straddling the base of said body andconnected to the eye bolt.

2. In a track for ballasted road beds, the combination, with a pair ofspaced, parallel track rails, and a sleeper supported on the ballasttransversely of said rails and directly across the upper surface ofwhich the rails pass; of an inverted strengthening rail embedded in theballast below and parallel with 0 said track rails, with the lowersurface of the sleeper resting directly thereon; a plate supporteddirectly on the said upper surface of the sleeper immediately above thestrengthening rail and projecting at its ends beyond the opposite sidefaces thereof; and

V a connection between each end of'said plate and the strengthening railto prevent dis" placement of the latter, such connection comprising adepending eye bolt attached to the plate end, and hook-shaped link meansstraddling the base of the strengthening rail and connected to the eyebolt.

3. A track, according to claim 2, in which two spaced, parallelstrengthening rails are 3 used in conjunction with the sleeper, saidrails being secured to the sleeper outside the track rails to permitthem to be applied to the track without stopping the traffic.

4. In a track for balla'sted road beds, the

40 combination, with a pair of spaced, parallel traclrrails, and asleeper supported on the ballast transversely of said rails and directlyacross the upper surface of which therails pass; of a strengthening bodyembedded in the ballast below and parallel with said rails, with theupper surface of the sleeper resting thereon; and a connection betweenthe sleeper and the strengthening body to prevent displacement of thelatter.

5. A track according to claim 4, in which the connection between theembedded body and the sleeper is releasable from above the sleeper.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

STEFFEN VVILDT.

